JULY 21-- the smoking gun This is the story of GOTMILF. In May 2002, Michael Syravong filed the below "personalized license plate application" with Washington's Department of Licensing. GOTMILF was Syravong's first choice among the three possible personalized tags he listed on the state form (he would have settled for SUPL8EZ or RCKSTAR).

Asked for the meaning of GOTMILF, Syravong wrote, "Manual Inline Lift Fluctuator," which he would later claim was some kind of automotive gizmo. The 25-year-old software engineer's license plate choice was, amazingly, approved by bureaucrats who obviously never saw the film "American Pie" and were clueless about the acronym's real meaning.

Unfortunately for Syravong, however, two offended citizens knew that the plate was actually his sly play on the Got Milk? slogan crossed with the raunchy acronym. In February, 21 months after Syravong got the personalized plate for his Toyota (pictured above), an aggrieved Washingtonian e-mailed a complaint to state officials. A second beef was received in April from a disgusted Snohomish parent who did not want "my children seeing this and inquiring as to what it means."

Acting on the first complaint, state officials wrote Syravong seeking his response to the complaint. Fighting to keep GOTMILF, he responded with a letter that desperately tried to explain away his license plate. Despite Syravong's invocation of Bill of Rights protections, members of Washington's Personalized Plate Review Committee were not swayed by his argument--and even hinted that he may have committed a crime (making a false or misleading statement to a public servant) when he submitted his original plate application.

In April, the state review committee voted to cancel Syravong's tag. He got the bad news in an April 13 letter chiding him for providing "inconsistent information regarding the definition of the plate." Stripped of GOTMILF, Syravong was forced to replace his distinctive tag with PUNISHR. We're counting the days until a motorist writes in to complain that Syravong's new plate advocates domestic violence or has S&M undertones.